Transmission



Nov. 30, 1937. R. CHILTON 2,100,632

TRANSMI SS ION Filed Feb. 27, 1936 zsheets-sheet 1 INVENTOR RoLaNJJ CH@ 70N ATTORNEY Nov. 30, 193?. R, H|| T0N 2,100,632

TRANSMI SS ION Filed Fe`b. 27, 1956 2 Sheets-Shea?l 2 INVENTOR komm c'fzroN 0 i ATTORNEY Y' Patented Nov. 3 0, 1937 u NI'rED STATES PATENT oFI-IE ammessa f TRANSMISSION Boland Chilton, Ridgewood, N. J. Applicationmebmary 27, 193s, serial No. 65,975

14 Claims.

This invention relates to transmissions, and in certain aspects comprises a continuing development of that type of transmission described and illustrated in application Serial No. 65,794, filed concurrently herewith.

Application Serial No. 65,794, refers to a type of transmission vwherein opposed toroidal discs are contactedV at varying radii by connecting rollers, and teaches novel hydraulic means for lo maintaining the contact loads proportional to the driving effort at the contacts, despite thel Vchange in radii thereof. The present invention includes novel and simplied mechanical means for the same purpose.

The above identified application also shows how planetary gears between the driving and driven members may be used to obtain zeroand reverse drive ratios at a planet carrier, with a variable speed organization in itself incapable of reaching zero ratio. The present invention shows how rollers may be substituted for the planetary gears and be utilized to the elimination of the ball thrust bearings often used in transmissions of this type in the prior art. 1

Another object of the invention is to provide simplified roller control and support structures whereby economies in weight, bulk and cost may be achieved. 1 Other objects of the invention will be obvious from, or will be pointed out in the following description, with reference to the drawings, in

which: Fig. l is a longitudinal axial section on the line l-l of Fig. 2; Fig. 2 is an end view, the lefthand portion of which `is in section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1, with one of the roller elements shown in outside view, and with'the right hand portion in section on the line 3-3'of Fig. 1; and f Fig. 3 is a developed diagram of a torque-re- 40 Sponsive device. y I

Referring irst to Fig. 1,5 l0 designates a conventional engine back plate to which a transmission fronthousing l2is secured by studs |4.f A con- V ventional enginecrankshaft |6-carries the usual ywheel I8; secured bybolts1.26,.which also atv'tach a--driving'hub 22, into'which lis'splined '-l afmainbr'v drivingV fshaft -24S on which is rigidly mounted Aa toroidalr faced driving-disc "26 backed l up and? driven by-afshaft flangev 28.;- In.;opposition to the' driving disc 26 thereis mountedfor free ifrotationonthe'main' shaft'f24 on bushings-2l a drivenassemblage comprising; an arcuatedriven `disc backed` up. by .an :outer `torque-r esponsive ring 32 and an inner torque-responsive ring -34 which are in turn backed up by a heavy 36 through balls 38 and 40 engagingl similar -inclined pockets ,or tracks 39 (Fig. 3) formed in the members 32, 34, 36 to comprise duplex torqueresponsive contact loading means effective at the inner and outer peripheries, respectively, of the i driven d isc 30.

The outer rear face of the heavy disc 36 comprises a race-way 42 engaged by rollers 44 engaging a companion race-way 46 on a member 48, splined at 50 for rotation with the drive shaft 24 and lbacked up thereon by the sleeve nut 52. 'I he rollers 44 have journals 54 rotatable in bushings 56 in bosses 60 ofthe driven member 62 provided with a sleeve extension 64 on which is splined acoupling flange 66. 1 An intermediate transmissionhousing 68 is piloted at 'l0 onto the front housing I2 and carries in turn a. rear housing 12, these parts being' secured together by bolts 'l4. The intermediate housing 68 has tangential bosses 1 6, in which are rotatable shanks 18, of roller-carrying forks 80, 2 having tubular spindles 82, comprising journals for spherical bushings '84, on which rollers 86 are mounted for slight tilting in, and for ratio changing rotation or precession with the carrying forks u 8|) upon their Shanks 18.

The forks have spherical enlargements 88 at the roller axes engaged by tubular control forks `tting the sides of the rollers and integral with sleeve portions 92 and with hypoid control pinions 94. The control forks 90 have each a spherical internalflange 96 engaging companion shoulders on' the forks 80 and on thrust washers 98, these parts being adjusted to the desired axial working clearance by nuts |00 on `the Shanks 18. It will be noted that the control member 90, 92, 94, 96 radial clearances internally whereby it is free to tilt about the sphere y88, upon the as- .sociated fork 80. .Y Engaged with the'hypoid Vpinion's. 94 are opposed similar hypoidY control ringfgears |02, [04, free forfrotation in the housing |2,'6 8, 1 2,` as shown, and engagedwithone yof theseringgears Vis va control quadrant. I 06, mountedon aspin'dle I88 int`eg"r al a' bontolcove ',I'Iil "andgin frictional engagement. therewithy fessure from .a spring l,|2. The conti" driven member sleeve` 64n which inturn'usup' Buried in a bearing |28 in the housing l2.

. The rear housing 12 is equipped with an ele- `vated`oil reservoir |80 having a bailing slot v|82 control quadrant |06 which in turn rotates the engaged ring gear |04 tending to rotate the control pinions 84 and, through the forksl 90, thel rollers 86 about the axes of the shanks '|8. Such direct rotation', however, is resisted by the heavy contact leads between the rollers 8 6 and the discs 26, 30 whereby initial movement of the ringgear |04 tilts the control forks 90 and the rollers 86 `slightly oif the t'rue tangential relationship shown. This, in effect, steers the rollers and, due to the opposite rotation of the discs 26, 30, one side of Athe roller will then precess inwardly and the other outwardly so long as,- and only so long as, this'precession of the roller, and therefore of the pinions 94, is followed up by the ring gear |04. YWhenever this ring gear is held stationary such precessional rotation of the rollers will bring the control elements 90, 94 and,

therefore, the rollers themselves, 'back to tangential relationship and the precession will cease; the rollers being stabilized vuntil the ring Sear is next moved. I

. 1t wi11 be seen that by'disposing the pinitiis si around the supporting bosses 16 and by the con- 1centric arrangement of the roller supporting forks 80 and the control forks 00, a -very simple and compact roller control organization is afforded, this being one of the objects of the invention.

Since the pinions 94 of rotation and slight translatiorh'they would not A be constrained to strictly equal motion by a single control ring gear |04, but vthis unitary motion of the roller and control assemblages is achieved by theinclusion ofthe second floating whnthe contact is at the outer radius. In the control ring gear |02.

The torque-responsive loading organization functions as follows: The driven disc 80, being supported at either its inner or outer peripheries by torque-.responsive rings 34-22, may be made-` much lighter than is permissible'with discs in the prior art supported by only one torque-responsive device, and are shown much lighter, and therefore much more flexible, than the associated discs 28, 36. roller contactsl movev from the inner to the outer periphery lof the driven disc 30 as the ratio is changed as indicated by the dotted lines A and B in Fig. 1,

and it will be apparent that the distribution of the roller contact load between the inner torqueresponsive ring 84 and the outer torque-responsive ring 321will thus vary; the entire'load devolving on the inner ring in, position A, on the outer ring in position B ,and being equally divided between theings in the eentnu position shown; provided the driven plate 80 has adequate capacity for dish-wise distortion relative tothe total distortion or su .the `parts involved in transmitting the contact loads from one disc to another, which is intended to be aorded with I0 is relatively flexible for slight movement of its inner land outer peripherieayet the proportionsshown. The gross .elastic yield' ofthese parts determines the relative circumferential movement at the torque-responsive devices as the driving load, and therefore the contact pressures, are increased. and, while the disc relative axial near the latter.

-the inner ring 34 vadvance of the disc 36 due pose of the.

have a compound motion -any arcuate element of the disc comprises a relatively short beam supported near its ends by therings az, :4 wnerefefe it is relatively rigid against beam deflections within any radial section, in spite of itsrelative fiexibility'for slight bodily angulation of diametrically opposed sections. Thus, the flexibility of the driven disc 30 does not substantially increase the relative rotational movement at the torque-responsive de-` vices under increasing load, yet it does permit the outer periphery of the disc to advance more than the inner periphery when the contacts are This is necessary to the functioning of this part of theinvention, involving duplex torque-responsive devices as follows:

To achieve the correct relationship between the driving eiort at the roller and disc contacts in spite of the large variation in the contact radii, it is necessary that the slope of the torqueresponsive tracks engagingthe balls 88, 40 be the same, i. e., that their helixangles be identical, but, as the outer tracks are approximately threetimes the diameter of the inner tracks, the helical lead of the outer will be three times that of the inner so thatthe axial advance of the outer ring 32 will be three times that of under any given rotational to the gross yield of the parts under 'an increasing load. The purdish-Wise flexibility of the disc 20 is to permit this excess movementv of its outer periphery when the rollers engage its inner pe'- rlphery, so that, at this inner contact radius, the contact load will be controlled by the inner torque-responsive vring 34. l

Where a single torque-responsive device is used. as in the prior art,the track angle thereof can be made appropriate only to one radius of roller present invention, on the contrary,

pressures Iare divided between the inner and outer torque-responsive rings in proportion to the location of the contact points relative thereto whereby the contact pressures are maintained proportional to the driving. effort at the contacts despite the change in radii thereof, in conformity with a prime object of this invention.

Theratio of diameters of the tracks 42, 48' engaging the rollers 44, is arranged to be within the ratio range of the upon the driving and when the'` last said ratio is equal driven discs 26. .30 and planetary speed givingzero rotation of the cou- 'plinganget regardless of the speed of rotation of the drivingdisc 26; similarly to the action to that of the .tracks ,42, 46 the rollers 44 are brought to zero roller contact diameters *5'5 of the toothed gears described in greater detail in said copending application. However, in this invention, the rollers 44 combine an additional and important function in that they comprise.

with the race members 86. 40,'the thrust bearing means whereby the contactload reactions betweentherelatively rotating drivinganddriven discs. are sustained. This dual function eliminatesanumher ofpartsusedinthepriorart.

While I have 'described my invention in detail in its present preferred obvious to those skilled in the art, standing my invention. modifications may be made therein without departing fromthe spirit or scopethereof. I aim after underembodiment, it will be that various changes and in the appended claims to cover all such modications and changes.

What is claimed is:

1. In a transmission, in combination, an annular disc elastically distortable for slight relative axial movement of its inner and outer peripheries, a roller shiftably contactable between large and small disc radii, and inner and outer torqueresponsive contact loading devices eiective on the disc at respective radii.

2. The combination with a roller, of a transmission disc having a radially extensive face subject to radial roller contact shift, and inner and outer torque responsive torque-transmitting means adapted to individually contact load said disc at inner and outer disc circumferences corresponding to the extremes of said contact shift thereon.

3. The combination with an annular disc, of torque-responsive devices effective at large and small radii thereon, and rollers contactable with the disc at corresponding radii, said disc being flexible so as to yield to the axial movement of one loading device when the roller contact is on that position of the disc supported by the other device.

4. The combination with an annular disc, of rollers contactable at'large and small radii thereon, and torque-responsive devices acting on the disc at'respective radii, said disc being sumciently flexible so that under either contact radius condition only the corresponding torque-responsive device is effective in loading the contact.

5. In a transmission, in combination, an annular disc, rollers contactable anywhere across said annulus, and inner and outer torque-responsive means acting on the disc near respective peripheries thereof, said disc having `such flexibility that therelative effectiveness of the torque-responsive devices is proportional to the position of the'v roller contacts on the discs relative to said devices.

6. In a transmission, in combination, an annular disc having convex and'\concave faces giving greatest thickness at the mid-Width of the disc, torque-responsive devices respectively contacting said convex face towards the inner and outer margins thereof, and rollers variably contactable between said margins of the convex face.

7. In a transmission, in combination, an annular disc, torque-responsive devices having tracks respectively of large and small radii but of equal helix angle and contacting the back of said disc at corresponding radii, and rollers variably contactable with the front of said disc, said disc being exible to yield under the greater axial movement characteristic of the large radius device when the roller contact is at the smaller radius.

8. In a transmission, in combination, an annular disc, torque-responsive devices effective respectively at inner and, outer circumferences thereon, and rollers variably contactable with the disc between said circumferences, said disc being slightly flexible whereby the contact load is divided between said devices in proportion to the l0- cation of the contacts therebetween.

9. A transmission including, in combination,

` a housing, toroidal discs, rollers organized for pre- 11. The combination with transmission rollers, of roller supporting and controlling forks one embracing the other, bevel pinions rigid with said control forks, and a control ring gear engaging said pinions.

12. In a transmission, in combination, coaxial discs, a housing, bosses having borestangentially disposed in said housing, roller carrying forks .having shanks rotatable in said bores, rollers mounted forrotation with and for slight tilting in said forks, control forks ittedto the sides of said rollers and loosely embracing said carrying forks, hypoid pinions rigidV with said carrying forks and loosely embracing said bosses, and a control ring gear engaging all said pinions.

13. In a transmission, in combination, an annular disc, rollers organized for shift from small to large roller contact circumferences upon the disc, two torque-responsive contact pressure -means individually effective to load the disc at corresponding circumferences, and a rigid disc driving member having tracks respectively comprising one element of the respective means.

14. In a transmission, in cbmbination,rollers, an annular disc organized for shift from small to large roller contact circumferences upon the disc, and torque-responsive contact pressure means individually elective to load the disc at corresponding circumferences, said disc being flexible for slight axial advance at one circumference when the contacts are at the other.

ROLAND CHILTON. 

